Brick & Tile Industry 'Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture'

Bricks and tiles are construction materials usually made by mixing finely ground clay or shale with water and firing, or baking, the mixture.

Brick is a solid regular-shaped block usually of fired clay. Bricks are available in a wide range of colors from a burned black, through red and yellow, to a cream white, which are determined by impurities in the clay. The standard size of bricks manufactured in the United States is 8 inches (20 cm) long by 3 1/2 inches (8.9 cm) wide by 1/4 inches (5.7 cm) thick. This is the basic size for bricks used in most construction work. It is very important to know about brick bonding which form a strong base for every constructive structure.

Brickwork is usually composed of bricks held together by mortar, which is a mixture of sand, lime, cement, and water. Besides holding the bricks together, mortar also fills the joints of the brickwork and makes it weatherproof. Bricks are joined together in horizontal layers called courses, usually consisting of headers, or bricks laid flat with the short edge exposed, and stretchers, or bricks laid flat with the long edge exposed. Courses are laid one above the other, with the bricks in each course laid so that they overlap the bricks in the course below them. The resulting overlapping arrangement is known as brick bonding.Bonding also helps tie together the inner and outer layers of bricks, making a stronger, more durable structure.

There are mainly six types of brick which commonly used in construction process which are as follows:

• Common Bricks: Ordinary building bricks, or common bricks, are made from easily obtainable clays and are prepared without any special attention to their color and texture.

• Face Bricks: These are made from clays which fire evenly to give an attractive appearance to the brick. A face brick may be given a smooth, sometimes colored, surface glaze by treating it with chemicals when it is fired.

• Fire bricks: Bricks that are especially resistant to damage from heat are called firebricks, or refractory bricks. These are made from fire clays containing alumina or other substances that help to make the brick resistant to heat.

• Paving Bricks are larger, harder and more resistant to penetration by water.

• Acid proof Bricks: These are hard, vitrified bricks resist damage by acids and other chemicals, and are used for floor surfacing in steel mills, chemical plants, and other industrial buildings.

• Insulating Bricks: These are made by mixing saw dust or straw with clay.

With the modernization, the pattern of construction has also changed. Demand for attractive, colored and smooth structure has increased. So tiles are now replacing the bricks. Tiles are made of the same clay or shale as bricks and are formed into relatively thin sheets, tubes or hollow blocks. They are often glazed and are made in many colors.

Atileis a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops and are used for wall and ceiling applications.

Structural tiles are set in a same way as bricks. Surfacing tiles are applied to walls, floors, and other flat interior surfaces either with mortar or with oil-base or resin-base adhesives. A thin mortar is forced between surfacing tiles after they have set to make the surface waterproof. On sloping roofs, roofing tiles are nailed down; on flat roofs they may be nailed, cemented, or simply laid in place.

There are five main types of tiles are used which are as follows:

Glazed Wall Tilesare thin, flat tiles made of highly porous clay. They are usually glazed on one side to make them waterproof. They are often used for kitchen and bathroom walls.

Floor Tiles are flat, unglazed tiles that have been vitrified to resist absorbing water.

Roofing Tiles are flat shingles, slabs, or specially designed overlapping tiles. They are made both with and without a glazed surface.

Structural Tiles are hollow blocks of clay similar to bricks. They are used both for load-bearing portions of building and for non load-bearing portions, such as partitioning walls.

Tile Pipes are made of clay is produced in short, cylindrical sections.

The Indian brick & tile industry is a budding sectors and contributing positively in Indian economy growth. In both sector, there are promising future in regards to growth and country’s upcoming employment opportunities.

Bricks annual production is 200 billion bricks which is 2nd largest brick producer after china and the largest “soft- mud brick producer” in the world. There are total numbers of brick units are 100,000 that includes traditional brick factory 65,000 units, 20,000 small scale industry , 13000 medium and 10 large scale industries.

In India majority of units adopt hand-molding, sun-drying and BTK/ Clamp-firing process. Brick industry provides direct employment to about 11 million workers. Indian brick market is moving upwards as the Indian construction industry is expected to grow at 25-30% during the next period.

There is a clear indication for structural transformation of the Indian brick industry. Very shortly it will change its face and will create huge opportunities for machinery manufacturers and technology providers. Government control over brick and tile industry is also a key factor to its positive growth in near future.

Employment:Laboratories plays an important role in improving the product quality. Testing facilities required trained staff members in the factories. Laboratory kiln for testing purpose and external laboratories are required with scientific background.Country’s technology institutes can play a vital role to bridge gap between industry and science. Specialized professional education can direct the industry for better use of industrial research and development resources, to make easier international contacts and can provide representative of industry to government. Professional training in brick and tile industry is very important for hi-tech solutions for practical situations and for easy access for small industries.

Growth graph in Indian tile industry is also showing positive signs for Indian economy. Despite an overall slowdown of the economy, Indian tile industry continues to grow at a healthy rate 15% per annum. Indian tile industry is divided into organized and unorganized sector. Production in this sector stood at aprox 340 million sg mt. during 2006-2007.

As a foreign exchange earner or a global player, Indian Tile industry has captured the attention of the world in the ceramic tiles segment. India is projected to figure in the top 3 countries manufacturing ceramic tiles by 2010.

The Indian Industry has developed an export market although at the lower end. In volume it constitutes less than half a percent of the global market. (Presently India does not figure in the list of major exporting countries). But this reality could change as Indian exports are rising at the rate of 15% per annum. The top-end of the global export market is presently dominated by Italy (40.8%). With proper planning and better quality control our exports contribution can significantly increase in neat future.Presently Indian tile Industry offers 50,000 direct and 500,000 indirect employments.

In modern world brick and tiles, both are very important though it is not any eatable substance but no doubt it is among the list of main component require by human being. There are some environmental issues are also attached with brick and tile industry. Emission of huge quantity of toxic elements from bricks kilns is causing serious health hazards.The brick kilns emits toxic fumes containing suspended particulate matters rich in carbon particles and high concentration of carbon monoxides and oxides of sulphur that are harmful to eyes, lungs and throat. These air pollutants stunt the mental and physical growth of the children.

To fight with its ill effects government as well as general public need to unit to adopt the remedial measures such as shutting down illegal kilns, introduction of cleaner technologies such as vertical shaft kilns and fixed chimney kilns, substitution of traditional kilns with newer technologies, suggesting standards for emission from brick kilns will significantly reduce the air pollution.

For such topics of Basic understanding on the subject matter which may be useful for MBA aspirants / MBA students. Please keep on visiting www.mbarendezvous.com, Portal with Management by objective approach.

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